This savory vegan pasta bake is pure comfort food! It's super simple to assemble, it's ready in less than one hour, and it's loaded with ribbons of pesto, juicy tomatoes, and the creamiest sauce. Serve with a big salad and watch your family gobble it up!
This hearty vegan pasta bake is a truly delicious meal! It comes together quickly and easily, and I promise you, the whole family will devour it. Noodles coated in creamy cashew sauce with swirls of pesto running throughout...what's not to love? If you're craving comfort food, this is what you should make!
How To Make a Vegan Pasta Bake
Begin by boiling the cashews to make them easier to digest and softer to blend into a creamy sauce. Next, cook the noodles in a pot of boiling water. While the noodles are boiling, make the creamy cashew sauce.
Add the cashews, unsweetened almond milk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, tapioca flour, and lemon juice to a high-powered blender and blend the mixture on high until it turns into a smooth and creamy sauce.
Pour the creamy sauce over the noodles and stir to coat the noodles with the sauce (Photo 1). Add dollops of the pesto and swirl it throughout the noodles (Photos 2 & 3).
Top the dairy-free casserole with diced tomatoes and grated vegan parmesan cheese (Photos 4 & 5). Lastly, cover the casserole with parchment paper and bake it for 20 minutes or until hot and the cheese has melted (Photo 6). Serve and enjoy!
What Goes With it?
I like to make a big salad along with a tray of maple dijon brussels sprouts or roasted broccoli to serve on the side with the vegan pasta bake.
How Long Does it Last in the Refrigerator?
Put the pasta in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Can You Freeze it?
Store the leftover vegan noodle casserole in an airtight, freezer-safe container in the freezer. The frozen pasta will maintain its best quality for up to two months, but it will last longer than that stored in the freezer.
How to Reheat it
From the Freezer: Take the pasta out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost for 24 hours. Then you can warm up the pasta on the stovetop or in the microwave.
From the Fridge: Whether you reheat the pasta in the microwave or on the stovetop, you'll need to add a little bit of almond milk or water to the pasta to help loosen the creamy sauce.
Ways to Adapt this Recipe
You can make this creamy vegan pasta bake just as the recipe states, or you could switch it up with the following variations:
- Add Fresh Greens: Get extra greens in by adding a few handfuls of fresh spinach or thinly sliced kale to the pasta.
- Add Plant-Based Protein: You can add extra protein to this dairy-free pasta bake by adding one can of rinsed and drained great northern beans, one cup of green peas, or one block of crumbled tempeh.
- Crispy Topping: Top the casserole (before you bake it) with buttery bread crumbs to add extra texture and even more flavor!
- Add Vegetables: Make this vegan pasta bake a more substantial meal by adding broccoli florets, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, or diced zucchini.
Substitutions & FAQ
- Cashew Substitute: You can use shelled, raw, unsalted sunflower seeds instead of cashews. The sunflower seeds need to be boiled for 10 minutes before you add them to the blender.
- Homemade Vegan Pesto Recipe: I used a jar of pre-made pesto, but if you want to make it from scratch, use this vegan pesto recipe.
- Tapioca Flour Substitute: You can use 1 tbsp of arrowroot powder instead of 2 tbsp of tapioca flour.
- What Type of Noodles Should I Use? Use noodles that have ridges to catch the sauce, like penne, rotini, fusilli, rigatoni, ziti, or cavatappi. Plus, these noodles are easier to scoop out of the casserole dish.
- Gluten-Free: To make this vegan pasta bake gluten-free, you'll need to use gluten-free noodles. I really like these chickpea noodles and these quinoa noodles.
Success Tips
- Use noodles that have ridges or pockets that will catch the sauce.
- Use store-bought pesto (I used Sprout's vegan pesto) to save time and make dinner even simpler without compromising on flavor.
- Make sure to use unsweetened plant milk to make the creamy cashew sauce. Vanilla-flavored or plant milk with added sugar will make the savory sauce taste sweet.
- When you're shopping for recipe ingredients, tapioca flour may also be labeled as tapioca starch. They're the same thing.
- Store leftover noodle casserole in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days or you can freeze it for a future meal.
More Vegan Pasta Recipes You'll Love
Spinach Artichoke Dip Stuffed Shells
Vegan Spinach Artichoke Lasagna
Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Hummus Pasta
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Vegan Pesto Pasta Bake
Equipment
- Small Pot
- Large Pot
- Blender
- 9x13-inch Casserole Dish
Ingredients
- 16 oz penne pasta
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 3 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp tapioca flour (or tapioca starch)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 6 oz vegan pesto (I used a 6 ounce bottle of Sprout's Organic Vegan Pesto)
- 4 medium roma tomatoes diced
- ¼ cup vegan parmesan cheese grated (I used a block of Violife parmesan cheese)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Put the cashews in a small pot and cover them with 1 inch of water. Boil the cashews for 10 minutes. Drain the water and put the cashews into a blender cup.
- Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water. While the noodles are cooking, make the creamy cashew sauce. When the noodles are done cooking, drain the water and put the noodles into a 9x13 casserole dish.
- Add 3 cups unsweetened almond milk, 3 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp tapioca flour, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, ½ tsp sea salt, and ½ tsp black pepper to the blender cup with the boiled cashews. Blend on high until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
- Pour the creamy cashew sauce over the noodles and stir it so the sauce coats each noodle. (The sauce will look a little thin, but trust me, it will thicken up as it cooks in the oven.) Add dollops of pesto on top of the noodles and stir it a few times to incorporate the pesto into the sauce.
- Sprinkle the diced tomatoes over the pasta and top it with grated vegan parmesan cheese. Cover the casserole with parchment paper and bake it for 20 minutes.
Notes
- Use noodles that have ridges or pockets that will catch the sauce.
- Use store-bought vegan pesto (I used Sprout's vegan pesto) to save time and make dinner even simpler without compromising on flavor.
- Make sure to use unsweetened plant milk to make the creamy sauce. Vanilla-flavored or plant milk with added sugar will make the savory sauce taste sweet.
- When you're shopping for recipe ingredients, tapioca flour may also be labeled as tapioca starch. They're the same thing.
- Store leftover pasta in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days or you can freeze it for a future meal.
Nutrition
*This recipe was originally shared on 3/1/19, but I updated it with better recipe instructions on 7/5/20.
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